Referenda

A Referendum is a vote of an entire electorate on a law or proposal and there are different types of Referenda that can take place.

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA)This established a fixed legal framework for the conduct of any referendum held across Scotland, Wales, England or Northern Ireland, and regional referendums within England.

Mayoral ReferendumThe Local Government Act 2000 changed the way Local Authorities in England and Wales operated. Most Local Authorities, except some of the smaller District Councils in the area of a County Council, operate one of three types of executive arrangement set out in the Act, two of which involve a directly elected Mayor: Mayor and Cabinet, and Mayor and Council Manager. The other involves a Leader (who is elected by Councillors) and Cabinet.

Other ReferendaReferenda or 'consultations' are regularly used by Councils to obtain public opinion on local issues. These are not regulated by law.

The District Council is required, by the Local Government Act 2000, to publish the minimum number of signatures which would be needed to support a valid petition requiring the Council to hold a referendum on whether or not the District should start to operate the mayor and cabinet executive or leader and cabinet executive (England) system.

Such a petition must be signed by 5% of the local government electors in the district. It is a legal requirement that the Electoral Registration Officer for each local authority must publish the figure that represents 5% of the local government electors on a yearly basis. This figure is referred to as the Verification Number.

The figure is published each year in February, and is applicable from 1 April until 31 March following publication.

In any year there is a brief period where two Verification Numbers are valid. This is between the publication of the new number and the 31st of March of that year. During this overlap the Local Authority must use the lowest of the two numbers for the verification number for any petitions submitted.

Publication of Verification Number

In accordance with Regulation 4(1) of the The Local Authorities (Referendums)(Petitions)(England) Regulations 2011 the number that is equal to 5% of the number of local government electors shown in the revised register of electors having effect on the 15 February 2018 is as follows:

2097

This figure will have effect for the purposes of determining the validity of Petitions submitted to the District Council before 1 April 2019. However a new number will be published in February 2019 and if the new number is less than 2097, then the new number will apply from the date it is published.